Confidence Leads to Success When You Believe In Yourself

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right”. Henry Ford

Do you remember the story about The Little Engine That Could? It was a little train engine that found itself at the bottom of a tall, tall hill. At first it couldn’t ever imagine reaching its summit. But by believing in itself and repeating the phrase, “I think I can. I think I can.”, the Little Engine managed to achieve the lofty goal of climbing over the hill. As a child you may have read this book and even repeated that mantra to yourself when faced with your own “summit”. For many children it is the first lesson in confidence: believing that you can do something will result in success.

Believing in yourself and your abilities is called confidence. Even Henry Ford, who invented the Model T as well as the assembly line mode of production, could not have achieved his success without being confident in himself and his abilities. But where did his confidence come from? Without actually asking him, we can only surmise that his skills gave him the confidence to achieve his goals. As a child, Henry Ford enjoyed repairing watches and this skill-set developed into servicing steam engines.

Skills lead to confidence which leads to success. While this statement rings true, there is much involved in its truth. In order to understand how confidence leads to success, you need to learn what confidence is, how it affects success, and how you can attain it.

What is Confidence?

In order to understand how confidence affects you, you need to know what it is.

Confidence comes from the Latin word “fidere” which means “to trust”. Confidence is having trust in yourself and your abilities.

Confidence is partly born from past achievements. Each accomplishment builds another rung on your ladder of confidence. You believe in your abilities because you have successfully achieved your goals.

Confidence is a belief in your future self as well. Confidence gives you the belief that you are able to attain a specific goal in the future.

Confidence is linked to almost every aspect of a happy and fulfilling life. When you are confident, you are not caught up in self-doubt. This encourages empathy and an ability to develop better relationships.

Confident people wear their confidence as well; they physically appear relaxed, calm and poised. Trust in yourself and your abilities puts others at ease, and this helps them to have confidence in you as well.

How Does Confidence Affect Success?

Just like The Little Engine, believing in yourself and your abilities helps you to achieve your goals. But how exactly does confidence affect success?

Confidence gives you greater motivation; it gives you a drive to start things.

Confidence gives you the skills and coping mechanisms to handle any of life’s hurdles. You are able to overcome any obstacle in your path, simply because you believe you can.

Confidence gives you resilience; knowing that you have the ability to recover quickly will eliminate a fear of failure. Giving yourself room for failure leads to success.

Confidence helps you find your passion. Believing that you can accomplish anything will encourage you to try new things.

Confidence gives you the courage to take risks.

Confidence allows you to approach difficult tasks as challenges rather than as problems.

Confidence encourages you to set challenging goals and commit to them. The belief in your own abilities will prevent you from wavering in your commitment to finishing them as well.

Confidence gives you the belief that you can win. You will believe in your own ability to succeed.

How Can You Attain Confidence?

Confidence leads to success – but how can you attain the confidence that is required?

The best way to attain confidence is by acquiring skills and training. When you learn a skill it becomes a part of you; it becomes one of your abilities. Learning a skill becomes an achievement as well, and this is a building block for your confidence.

Find a picture that represents a past success and keep it handy. Keep in mind that prior achievements build confidence.

Substitute any negative thoughts with positive ones. You can attain confidence by recognizing feelings of self-doubt, and banishing them. Replace them with your own favourite confidence-inspiring mantra.

Keep a journal. By recording your accomplishments, big or small, you are able to remind yourself of your successes. Each success builds confidence in your abilities.

Use the support of friends and family. Connecting with other individuals offers opportunities to reaffirm the belief in yourself, and perhaps give your confidence a boost.

As Henry Ford claimed, if you think you can, you’re right. Believing in yourself, having confidence in your own abilities, leads to success. Confidence gives you courage, resilience, motivation, and a belief in your own ability to succeed. The best way to attain confidence is by acquiring skills and training; skills that form the basis of your abilities and achievements.

Ultimate Academy® prides itself in providing graduates with confidence-building skills and training. Thousands of students have graduated with the confidence to begin a career in Home Staging, Feng Shui, Professional Organizing, Decorating and ReDesign, and Event and Wedding Planning. The built-in support group, Ultimate Alumni™, offers support and encouragement to fellow graduates. It provides a format to share success stories and helps its members to build confidence.

A little train believed in itself and so can you.